Author: Kristian Skovrup Last Wednesday Apollo-Ridge High School students were shown a drug prevention program developed by the Alle-Kiski Health Foundation. As a part of the program, students were shown and asked questions on a short film designed by the organization. The film consisted of a number of interviews with people from the local area who have struggled with or been directly affected by addiction to drugs like marijuana and heroin. These personal testimonies showed how addiction affects persons from all backgrounds, as well as the ease with which persons can become victims of addiction.
Following the presentation of the film a panel discussion was begun, allowing students to interact and pose questions to the representatives. Questions ranged widely, from the cause of the high levels of addiction in Western Pennsylvania to inquiries about the personal experiences of the speakers with drug addiction. The process of addiction recovery was also covered during the program, including a discussion of the different types of recovery options open to people and personal anecdotes about the process. The founder of a local recovery center, Laurie Johnson-Wade, spoke to students about the programs offered by her center, Lost Dreams Awakening. The Lost Dreams Awakening Community Center is located in New Kensington and provides a number of educational and training resources in addition to recovery efforts as one of several recovery locations in the Alle-Kiski Valley area.
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Greg on his official visit, trying on his future jersey! Author: Felicity Rocco One of our own authors at the Viking Voice is not only an amazing writer, but he is an amazing athlete. Greg Klingensmith, a senior this year, has been rewarded a full-scholarship to the College of William and Mary (along with a few other colleges as well). This is an incredible opportunity for him to start his college life and eventually study law.
Greg has been playing football since 7th grade as an offensive tackle and defensive end, and he has really shown what an athlete he really is. His freshman year he received an honorable mention, and sophomore year an honorable mention and All-Conference 2019 Second Team Offensive Lineman. In Greg’s junior year, he was named 2020 All- Conference Offensive Lineman of The Year and 2020 All-Conference First Team Offensive Lineman. Impressively, during his senior year Greg was named 2021 All Conference Defensive Lineman of The Year along with 2021 First Team Defensive End and First Team Offensive Tackle. John Skiba, Greg’s varsity football coach for the past four years, said, “Greg's leadership was a constant and needed presence during a very trying season. Greg was a great role model for our younger players on how to go about your work on and off the field.” This goes to show how much of an impact Greg has made on his team. On December 15th, Greg committed to playing football at the Division I level at the College of William and Mary. W&M plays in the FCS Conference and has 8 championships under their belt. Everyone is beyond proud of Greg and glad to see him apart of "The Tribe!" Gage Johnston going up to shoot the ball! Author: Felicity Rocco The boys varsity basketball team had a rough record this year of 3-6, but the team undoubtedly worked extremely hard. With the new season came a new starting line up, and each player worked hard to earn his spot. Gage Johnston, a junior this year is currently in the top 30 for scoring in the WPIAL. His average is 20.1 points and 7 rebounds per game. Gage has scored 442 points this year with 33 points in one game as his highest. This is a huge honor and is extremely exciting to see how far he goes next year.
The newest addition to the team is Nick Curci, the now, tri-sport athlete. Veteran players Gavin McCall and Bradey Schrock also made a great addition to the team at every game. Seniors this year were Nick Clawson, Zach Clawson, Gavin McCall, Bradey Schrock, Nathan Kavulic, and Matt Burkholder. Congratulations to the seniors on a season well fought! Author:Kate Myers Just because marching band is over doesn’t mean the band program is slowing down! After closing out another great marching season in late October, students turned their focus to the upcoming winter concert. The classes worked on about six to seven pieces each to perform at the concert, which was held in the high school auditorium on December 10th of 2021.
Senior members of the A-R High School Band opened the concert with a rendition of the National Anthem. The sixth graders performed first, then the seventh and eighth grade band, and finally the high school band. Throughout the whole night, there was an air of excitement and enthusiasm. This concert was a great return to normality for all, as it was the first regular, in-person performance since the winter concert of 2019. For many of the sixth and seventh graders, this was their first ever concert! Some standout pieces of the night were "Prehistoric Suite," performed by the seventh and eighth grade band, which chronicled the adventures of dinosaurs, and "Snowflakes Dancing," a difficult piece performed by the high school band, meant to evoke the feeling of layering and everchanging snow. Several students also took part in the PMEA District Band Festival, which took place at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in February. Daniel Dunmire and Cole Rearick both chaired first in their respective sections and will be advanced to regions in the spring with several other instrumentalists from Apollo-Ridge. Rearick also auditioned and won the incidental solo in one of the district pieces. Says Rearick about PMEA band, “PMEA has [been challenging], but it has exponentially improved me as a player.” We will be cheering on our talented musicians as they take on the region festival and audition for all-state! Finally, make sure to keep an eye out for some of our talented band students playing in the pit for the musical this March and our jazz band who will be performing later on in the spring. We hope to see you back in the auditorium at 7 pm on May 6 for the spring band concert! Photos by: Lici Jo Photos Sydney McCray going to score another point! Author: Felicity Rocco The 2021-22 basketball season for the girls varsity team was outstanding! They went 5-3 and are third in the WPIAL. Most of the games they were ahead by at least 20 points! Coach Ray Bartha has a special attachment to this team, with his two granddaughters Brinley and Kylar Toland as star players. Brinley Toland and Syd McCray are captains and have both lead the team to many victories. Syd, only a junior, earned herself a triple-double in the game against St. Joseph with an impressive 27 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 steals.
The team is made up of all underclassmen and has great potential for years to come. Most of these girls have played together from elementary school and have a lot of chemistry on the court. The lady Vikings are heading off to the playoffs and everyone wishes them the best of luck!! Author: Felicity Rocco Due to Covid the basketball teams haven’t been able to have their annual ‘Rally at the Ridge’ event. Yet, this year as we are getting back to normal, it took place! The night honors all of Apollo-Ridge’s basketball teams from elementary the whole way through to the high school varsity teams.
The celebration started with the youngest players, and they showed the crowd how they did their drills and practiced. Then...over to the middle school, teams displayed their shooting skills. The high school teams all showed their trick shots! There was a half court shot challenge and other fun games. The basketball program also honored the seniors this year: Gavin McCall, Nick Clawson, Zach Clawson, Bradey Schrock, Nathan Kavulic, and Matthew Burkholder. The cheerleaders also put on an amazing performance and really got all the fans excited for the season to begin! Guest Author: Sienna Jackson Christmas, a time to gather with family and friends, enjoying one’s company, the gifts, but especially the food...With everything that is going on in the world right now, people are still not able to get together with their families. Christmas is the season of giving and even though most people couldn't get with their families this year, there is always the community around us. The Angel Tree Dinner is a great way to gather in the community and give back to those who are in need this Christmas.
The Angel Tree Dinner is one of the Salvation Army’s highest profile Christmas efforts created by Major Charles and Shirley White in 1979. This all came about when the White’s worked with a Lynchburg, Virginia, shopping mall to provide clothing and toys for children at Christmas time. It got its name when individuals wrote their gift needs on Hallmark cards that featured pictures of angels. The very first year of the Angel Tree Dinner over 700 people were assisted that year. This just shows how giving back to community during this season of giving is so rewarding. Since being in attendance, “I feel that around this time of year is a great way to help out with your community and helping those who maybe can’t see their families. The Angel Tree Dinner is a great organization to help those in need as well as well as giving back and as we all know this is the season of giving.” In addition, the Weightmans are one church family running this; the main host is Lisa Weightman and other members of our church family contribute. Our church is always ready to help, so putting this all together is such a success when there are a lot of people who love the church and help others in our community. I was able to help out with this experience with my youth group to encourage kids ages 12-19 to join our youth group and get to experience the work that God is doing in our church. If our youth group wasn’t in the youth room greeting others and giving them information about our youth group, then they got the opportunity to help serve the people coming to each dinner which is a great experience to come in and work. Apart from this, the Angel Tree Dinner is a great way to get involved with the community. In this generation that we are living, the world just seems to be upside down. What we need angel tree dinner is a way of giving during the Christmas season. The Angel Tree Dinner was a great experience for me as a person. I feel that helping people at a crazy time such as Christmas can bring people joy when they are welcomed in a community, and they can take a break from all the chaos in their homes and enjoy time together as a family. I do encourage others who are looking for opportunities to help out and serve others, and the angel tree dinner is a great way to do that. Guest Author: Gabriella Hoessler Every year around the holiday season the Apollo-Ridge High School Leo Club makes cards for veterans. According to the advisor of the Leo Club, Miss. Wenckowski, the club sends about a thousand cards to veteran hospitals and over four hundred cards overseas to soldiers actively in the military.
Miss. Wenckowski says she thinks the members enjoy the cards because it puts smiles on their faces.“Although I know the students complain that their hands start to cramp after writing out numerous cards, I do think that members enjoy knowing they are putting a smile on someone’s face with their card,” says Wenckowski. When asked about how she came up with this idea, she says her mom gave her the idea her first year as advisor. “During my first year as advisor, I was talking about what club members could do for others around the holidays and my mom suggested that we send some holiday cards to local veterans' hospitals.” Miss. Wenckowski says the club sends over one thousand cards a year. “On average we send 1,000 cards each year. It's grown a lot since we started the project in 2016,” says Wenckowski. She also adds that most of the cards are donated from the Apollo Area Lions Club, so the only cost is stamps and mailing fees. The Leo Club sends cards to many different places in the Pittsburgh area, such as nursing homes and hospitals. The hospitals and nursing homes include Mechling- Shakely Veterans Center, Veterans Healthcare System, VA Butler Healthcare, Veterans Place of Pittsburgh, and Pine View Nursing Home. County chorus members from Apollo-Ridge Author: Emily Bonja On November 18th, 2021, Apollo-Ridge High School hosted Armstrong County’s long awaited County Chorus Festival. Collaboration between five schools – Armstrong, Apollo-Ridge, Freeport, Leechburg, and West Shamokin – as well as the late Mr. Scott Salser, retired choral director from Indiana Area High School- allowed for the festival to resume.
As the first publicly hosted chorus festival in the district since the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in March of 2019, it created a wave of excitement among the community. Music lovers and proud parents gathered that Thursday to watch their children perform after several weeks of grueling practice. One student, Anna Sodowsky, soared above the rest. Anna Sodowsky is a junior at Apollo-Ridge High School and has been participating in the school’s various music programs since fifth grade, beginning with band. She did not join the choir program until her sophomore year, so the County Chorus Festival was her first experience with a choir festival. When asked about her experiences with the festival, she remarked, “You can count on me being there next year! I loved being surrounded by new people and being in a large group with people that all wanted to be there to work.” On that night, Anna Sodowsky was tasked with closing out the concert with a massive concert solo in the piece “If You Believe in Music” arranged by Gary D. Fry. The song is an uplifting piece about the benefits of music and singing. Although the solo was difficult, relying heavily on improvisations, Anna Sodowsky said that the overall effect on the concert was large and rewarding: “The overall effect on the show I think was quite big. It was the ending number and being able to close out such a big concert with a big glissando is such a good feeling.” Apollo-Ridge’s choir director of four years, Mrs. Lori Paouncic, was the major method behind the madness. She says that having to make arrangements for the festival while dealing with COVID-19 guidelines was no easy feat. “We were originally supposed to host this festival last year, and due to COVID-19, it didn’t happen. We had to space the choir out and have the students masked while inside the building. The masking and distancing were the big things. We also had to reduce the size of the choir so that they could fit on the stage while being properly socially distanced.” Despite COVID-19 protocols, Mrs. Paouncic says that, overall, the event was highly successful. “I was very happy with how everything turned out considering the circumstances we were in with the pandemic. This was one of the first live music performances that many of the students were able to be involved with since the pandemic began. I thought that everything went well, and it was as nice as it could have been.” Author: Jessica Tevelonis For many years, the Apollo-Ridge High School has been hosting an annual musical for the entertainment and enrichment of our students. Our 2022 musical, accidentally announced by Mrs. Johns, is going to be “Hello Dolly!” On March 3rd, 4th, and 5th, the carefully selected cast will be performing the famous musical with the direction of Mrs. Greenlee, one of our high school English and theatre educators.
The main cast includes Kate Myers as Mrs. Dolly Gallagher Levi, Gabe Kavulic as Ambrose Kemper, Greg Klingensmith as Horace Vandergelder, Daniel Dunmire as Barnaby Tucker, Brooklyn Mayhle as Ernistina Money, Alyssa Starkey as Ermengarde, Aaron Worst as Cornelius Hacki, Madi Lydon as Minnie Fay, and Anna Sodowsky as Irene Molloy. You may notice when looking at the cast list that the whole cast is incredibly small compared to previous years, and there is a good reason for this. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the struggles that have come with it, Mrs. Greenlee made the executive decision to shorten the cast list to protect the safety of everyone involved. Even with this setback, the wonderful cast members have persevered and have been practicing almost daily for weeks. With about a month to go until the musical’s debut, I hope everyone is looking forward to this display of creativity and dedication brought to you by the A-RHS theatre team! |